Thursday, January 16, 2014

It's Dhoom Time!

And showing at my local theater here in Bangkok.

Dhoom 3

Director:
Vijay Krishna Acharya

Year: 2013

Duration:
172 minutes

One could
perhaps make an argument that the Dhoom series (Dhoom, 2004; Dhoom 2, 2006,
Dhoom 3, 2013) has gingerly escorted Bollywood films into the 21st century
with their high production values, big budgets, impressive action and stunt
sequences, pounding dance numbers and an attitude that defies logic and gravity. It could be called
catching up to Hollywood. Now whether one thinks that is necessarily a good
thing or an evil thing is up to each individual, but there is no escaping the fact that Dhoom 3
is more frantic and fun than a basket full of kittens high on cocaine. Then go
ahead and throw a plate of sardines into the mix and look at the result. That
would be Dhoom 3.

Dhoom 3 has
a fairly nifty plot with an after Intermission twist (that won’t be revealed in
this review), some good acting by everyone, a few rollicking musical numbers and
for Bollywood a very different location (Chicago), but the life blood of the
film is the exceptional technical skills shown in the action/stunt scenes and the
seamless editing that takes place in the second half (that involves the twist
so again I can’t say anymore). There are
four lengthy and complicated action sequences, three of which must have brought
much of Chicago to a standstill. Two of them are back to back to start the film
off with a bang that echoes throughout the movie like a starting gun.I read some reviews and reader comments that
sort of trashed the film for its absurdities which it no doubt has like a case
of the chicken pox, but who would go into a Dhoom film and expect anything
else. This isn’t Mother India. Or even Dil Chatha Hai. This is Dhoom 3 and it
embraces its over the top insanity and irrationality like a proud mother hen
ready to peck out your eyes.

As in the
first two Dhoom films, this one pits two cops, Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan)
and his comic relief partner, Ali (Uday Chopra) against a master thief. In the
first film they chased after John Abraham and in the second they battled wits
against Hrithik Roshan. Those are two pretty big names in the business but in
this one it goes for even more juice by having the master criminal played by super star
Aamir Khan all buffed up and buffed out like a Stone Age idol on Easter Island. It might seem an odd choice by Aamir who relishes making thought provoking commercial films in which he has total control for
showing up in such a ludicrous pulp film – it would almost be the equivalent of having Meryl
Streep jumping head first into the Fast and Furious franchise – but by the end
you can see what attracted him to the role as it is an enormously physically
demanding one and in that mysterious second half he gets to show some perverse
acting chops. And of course he got to go to Chicago and maybe catch a Cub's game.

Aamir’s character
Sahir is out to destroy a bank in revenge for it having destroyed his father
(Jackie Shroff) many years previously. As usual bankers are portrayed as
greedy, heartless and basically bastards on every level (as an ex-banker of
many years I would only under severe torture admit that this is generally true). And Sahir
is out to bring The Western Bank of Chicago to its knees by robbing it of all
its money. The fact that banks actually have insurance and a very small portion
of its assets are held in cash is kind of scrubbed over. Interestingly (or not)
the film skips over the robberies themselves and focuses on the escapes which
turn into city wide chases on motorcycles, boats, helicopters and lots of
crashed police cars. The Chicago police find it necessary to bring in two
Mumbai cops, Jai and Ali, to sort this all out and to catch the crook. It turns
into a bit of a cat and mouse game in which in all truth the mouse is much cleverer
and more interesting than the cat. Throw into this all ready fun mix an Indian
Circus de Soleil that I would pay to see and I hate circuses and the astonishingly lovely
Katrina Kaif, who wows in her few scenes and especially in a dance number that
must have tested her physical ability to the max (ok, so maybe she was doubled
for some of that. I don’t know). The film is great fun but again for the hard
of reading, this is not Mother India, it is Dhoom 3 so tread carefully.

My rating:
8.0

Musical
Numbers:

Here is
Katrina’s Flashdance inspired number as she auditions for a job in the circus. She got the job. Aamir just sits there in his creepy head gear watching with an expression on his face as to say "this is fine but when do I get my lap dance".

And here is
the number that runs over the closing credits interspersed with some scenes from
the film. It is mainly another excuse to watch Katrina dance.